Vehicles entered by four Japanese teams were among 38 solar-powered cars that set out Sunday from the northern Australian city of Darwin on a 3,000-km endurance race that will take them through the center of the continent.
Teams from 19 countries and regions entered this year's World Solar Challenge, vying to be first across the finish line in the southern city of Adelaide.
They departed Darwin in order of their performance in time trials held Saturday, with Nagoya Institute of Technology's car, Horizon 17, the second to take off behind Punch Two, the Belgian entrant.